Welcome to Camelot
by klayn
Summary: Anon prompted this: merlin is a prince who came to visit camelot; flirt!gwaine; jealous!Arthur
1. Chapter 1

Arthur stood on the front steps of Camelot, his knights spread out in a V behind him. He was waiting for Prince Merlin Emrys of Ealdor and his father, King Balinor of Ealdor, to arrive. Arthur didn't look it, but he was excited for the delegation from Ealdor to arrive. Not only was Ealdor a fairly large, very prosperous kingdom, he'd heard that Prince Merlin was an exceptionally good-looking person, which would make an alliance to Ealdor a very agreeable idea.

Eventually, he heard the clopping of horses hooves on the street, and not long after, the Ealdor delegation rode through the gates into the courtyard. When he caught sight of Prince Merlin, it took all of Arthur's will to not gape at the sheer beauty of the prince. Behind him, Gwaine let out a low, appreciative whistle, which caused a wave of irrational jealousy to flow through Arthur. He'd have to have a word with Gwaine about not seducing Prince Merlin.

Once the party had dismounted, they approached Arthur, with King Balinor and Prince Merlin in the lead. The king walked up to Arthur and extended his hand, which Arthur grasped, then released.

"Thank you for extending us your hospitality, King Arthur," said Balinor.

"It is no problem," replied Arthur. "It's a pleasure to have you here."

A cough that sounded suspiciously like a stifled laugh came from behind him, and Arthur mentally reminded himself to have a stern talk with Gwaine. "May I escort you and Prince Merlin to your chambers?" he asked. "I'm sure you wish to rest a bit before the feast tonight."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," said Merlin in a light tenor voice.

Arthur turned around and walked into the castle, followed by Merlin and Balinor, as well as a few knights bearing the pair's baggages. Once Merlin and Balinor were situated in their chambers, Arthur headed off to the throne room. Gwaine joined him on the way there.

"That Prince Merlin sure is easy on the eyes, isn't he?" said Gwaine.

"Look, Gwaine…" Arthur began. "He's a prince who's likely to marry me, not you. You need to stop flirting with him, because he or his father could take offense to that, and I don't want to have to get you out of trouble."

Gwaine looked at Arthur with a confused expression on his face. "Why do you care so much all of a sudden, Sire?" he asked. "You've never been like this with other marriage prospects."

"I don't know," replied Arthur slowly. He shook his head, and looked into Gwaine's eyes. "Just remember, Gwaine- don't flirt with him, okay?"

"Of course, Sire," Gwaine replied. "I'll just go to the tavern now." With that, he bowed, turned around, and walked away, leaving Arthur with his very confusing thoughts


	2. Chapter 2

Arthur, unlike his father, almost never made a late entrance to a banquet. Usually, this was because he could gather information from the guests while they shared pre-dinner gossip, and today he had the added purpose of seeing Prince Merlin as much as he could.

Half an hour before the banquet was to start, he had his manservant George dress him in his finest clothing. Once that was done, he hurried to the banquet hall. Just as he reached the door, Prince Merlin appeared at the end of the hallway, and Arthur was again struck dumb by the sheer attractiveness of the other man. Merlin walked down the hall and when he reached the door, he bowed to Arthur, who returned the gesture.

"How are you this evening, Prince Merlin?" asked Arthur, offering his arm towards Merlin.

"I'm well, thank you," replied Merlin, looping his arm through Arthur's. "Your castle is lovely."

Arthur felt some pride at Merlin's opinion of Camelot. He opened the door and walked in, heading up to the table. When they reached the table, Arthur went to his chair, and indicated to Merlin that he sit immediately on his right.

Once they were seated, Arthur turned to Merlin and said, "So Merlin, what's Ealdor like?"

Merlin's face lit up, and he started talking enthusiastically about Ealdor, and its people and customs and all other sorts of things. The only thing that bothered Arthur was that Merlin seemed to be omitting some information. What was it that Merlin wasn't saying?

Soon, the feast started, and Arthur dug in. The cooks had made a special effort tonight, so the food was quite delicious. Arthur kept glancing over at Merlin, but he was either eating or talking to his father in a low, harsh language that Arthur didn't understand a word of.

It was only when the dessert was served that Arthur did have a chance to talk to Merlin. "What did you think of the meal?" he asked.

"It was marvelous," replied Merlin, with Balinor nodding enthusiastically. "We've rarely had such good food, so thank you, Your Majesty."

"It was a pleasure," replied Arthur. "And speaking of pleasures..."

He stood up, and silence slowly descended on the room. "In honor of the arrival of King Balinor Emrys and Prince Merlin Emrys of Ealdor, I would like to introduce Lady Helen of Morra. She has kindly agreed to grace us with her presence."

The lady in question stood up from one of the tables, and walked to the center of the room. She looked around, cleared her throat, and started singing.

There was a sudden crash, and Arthur jolted up in his seat, looking around him in shock. The room had gone dark and filled with cobwebs, and Lady Helen was no longer standing at the front of the room. Instead, an old woman was lying on the floor underneath a chandelier, which had somehow fallen on her. The rest of the guests were stirring, their faces assuming equally confused expressions, while the old woman leaned up and her eyes flashed gold.

A ball of fire started to grow in the air in front of the woman, who was muttering as the ball grew bigger. Time seemed to slow down as the fireball flew towards Arthur.

Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur saw Merlin extending his hand, and there was a telltale flash of gold. The fireball stopped coming towards Arthur. Merlin's voice was strong and clear as he said an incantation, and the fireball flew back towards the woman.

There was an explosion of flame as the fireball engulfed the woman, which quickly died down to reveal a burned corpse. Arthur looked at Merlin, who was still standing with his arm outstretched, breathing heavily. Merlin's now-blue eyes looked into Arthur's, and he could see the fear there. What was he going to do now?


	3. Chapter 3

The room was silent for a few moments, then everyone started screaming and trying to leave. Balinor barked something in the guttural language he had been using to converse with Merlin, and the guards from the Ealdor delegation rushed to form a circle around Merlin and Balinor and ushered them from the room, leaving Arthur alone.

Arthur remained frozen in his chair for a while, not knowing what to do at all. On the one hand, Merlin had just saved his life, but the anti-magic laws his father had made would mean that Arthur would have to kill Merlin, which would definitely start a war. Besides, the mere thought of having Merlin killed sent a pang through Arthur.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, but when he heard the door opening, he looked up to see Morgana come in. She had changed out of her evening finery into a nightgown and slippers. "Arthur..." she said.

"What?" he replied.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

Arthur regarded Morgana. He knew her stance on magic, and her expression altered minutely between hopeful and resigned. "I don't know," he heard himself say. "Having Prince Merlin executed would cause a lot of problems, but the law-"

"Can be *changed*", interrupted Morgana. "You're the King, Arthur; you can change the laws."

"You think I should destroy the traditions my father made?" asked Arthur.

Morgana paused, then her face became determined. "For this, yes," she said. "You just saw- magic isn't necessarily evil. It can be used for good."

"Yes," murmured Arthur. "It certainly can."


	4. Chapter 4

After Morgana left, Arthur spent a while considering her words. He himself had thought a lot of times that his father's laws regarding magic were bordering on inhumane, and this would be a perfect opportunity to get rid of them.

Finally, he came to a decision, and once he did, he realized that he'd have to tell the Ealdor delegation. He walked through the castle to the guest rooms, and once he got there, he knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" came King Balinor's voice through the door.

"Arthur," he replied. "May I come in?"

"Of course, your Majesty," said King Balinor, and the door swung open.

When Arthur walked in, he was shocked to see that servants hurrying around the room, packing things. "Why are you packing? Are you planning on leaving?"

"We don't know what will happen to us, your Majesty," said Prince Merlin. "We thought you'd banish us, at the very least."

"I wouldn't do that," said Arthur in a slightly indignant tone. "However, I do want to tell you I've come to a decision regarding what will happen."

"And what is that, King Arthur?" asked Balinor.

"I'm going to repeal the anti-magic laws my father made," replied Arthur. "So you and your people don't need to worry about what will happen to you."

"You- you will?" said Prince Merlin in a shocked tone. "But why?"

"Because I don't like them, any more than...you do." Arthur sighed. "Besides, Ealdor is a kingdom I don't want to alienate."

"Then we thank you, King Arthur," replied Balinor.


	5. AN

Hi everyone

I know I haven't updated anything in a while, and I'm sorry for that. However, in my defense, I was extremely busy with school and life in general.

I will continue updating the following fics: A lesson (in love), Arthur's choice, Pride and Prejudice and BDSM, Reason 17, Watching the videos, Welcome to Camelot, and Yer a wizard Blainey. I promise, I will update them (at some point). It might be a bit until I update, as I'm working on creating a fanvid rn, but I will probably start posting new chapters for these fics within a few weeks.

Have fun,

Miriam


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